Fear Of Uncertainty
by Tourniquet Productions
Summary: Kuwabara and Kurama are the only ones who know that Keiko is pregnant with another man's child; Yusuke has been deceived and led to believe the child is his. But what Yusuke doesn't know, won't hurt him. Right?
1. I Adultrey

Disclaimer: I am not Yoshihiro Togashi, therefore I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.  
  
Pairing: Yusuke x Keiko (Mild Kurama x Keiko)  
  
Rating: PG-13 – due to Violence, Language and Sexual Content.  
  
Summary: Kuwabara and Kurama are the only ones who know that Keiko is pregnant with another man's child; Yusuke has been deceived and led to believe the child is his. But what Yusuke doesn't know, won't hurt him. Right? Author's Notes: All current chapters are being edited / re-written. Feedback makes for faster updates. Incase you're confused, the beginning of this chapter takes place during the Dark Tournament -a great deal of you seemed to be confused about that. Though I hardly understand why.  
  
-  
  
Fear Of Uncertainty  
  
:::Chapter I:::  
  
Adultrey  
  
-  
-  
  
"What are you afraid of?"  
  
I guess I just never really thought about it before, I always was someone to just jump into something without thinking about the consequences.  
  
I guess as long as I felt I was doing the right thing, I knew that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.  
  
Fear just wasn't a factor.  
  
-  
  
Roughly seven days into the Dark Tournament, late night had fallen over Hanging Neck Island. Four familiar faces sat around a small, circular table, all facing an elderly woman dressed in colorful robes and beads that dangled from her neck to her waist. A glass orb placed in the center of the table.  
  
Kurama could be spotted silently snickering at the question just asked by the old woman. Being so that the question was directed toward Yusuke, he was about to open his mouth to respond until Kuwabara decided to do it for him.  
  
"Lady, what have you been smoking?" Kuwabara questioned bluntly, "Do you not see all the shit we're dealing with out there?!" he continued, laughing between sentences, "I mean, no offence lady, but what the fuck kind of a question is that?"  
  
Yusuke smirked; nodding his head to Kuwabara's response as if he couldn't have put it any better himself. The woman turned her attention away from Kuwabara and back to Yusuke, attempting to re-fraise her question. "I see what you four boys are doing, everyone does." She grinned, causing her wrinkled face to crease, "You're all here for your own reasons, some by choice.." She turned to Hiei, "-others by force.." she nodded to Yusuke, "But, if it's so obvious that you're fears do not lie within the rage of battle, it boggles this old mind, where do they lie?"  
  
Kuwabara, with a rather dumb-founded look on his mug, exclaimed, "Urameshi ain't afraid of nuthin' old lady!"  
  
"Ind't that right?!" He questioned loudly, forcefully patting Yusuke on the back.  
  
Yusuke's eyes glazed as he turned his head to the elder, looking into her eyes, almost as if drawn to them; the seclusion of the inner workings of his mind felt as though they were being invaded by her piercingly blood-red eyes.  
  
The woman opened her mouth to answer but Yusuke's voice was the one they heard speak up, "He's right." Yusuke smirked, trying to sound sly as he broke their eye contact.  
  
"If being out in that ring and going into all the shit I've dealt with in my life doesn't scare me, there's not much I can think of that will.."  
  
Kuwabara smiled, as he elbowed Kurama with a cheesy grin rested upon his face.  
  
"But there are some things." The woman coaxed.  
  
"Example?" Hiei spoke up.  
  
Neither Yusuke nor the woman answered Hiei's question, silence filled the room once more, and was once again broken by Kuwabara, "I thought we were suppose to be getting our fortunes' told!" He shouted, pointing his index finger towards the elder.  
  
"Now tell us if Urameshi's gonna win his next battle or not!" He bellowed as he pounded his fist onto the table, causing the glass sphere to shake.  
  
"His next battle will be much larger than any fought inside a ring, his most difficult struggle has yet to unfold.." her tone became more solemn and grim with every word she spoke, "Heed my words boy, do not let the blind eye of jealousy deceive what is truly in front of you."  
  
No sooner had she finished her sentence, than no sooner had Kuwabara added his remark to the mix, "What the fuck does that mean?!"  
  
"I don't believe I was talking to you sonny." The woman retorted.  
  
"Whatever, come'on guys, this was a waste of time.." Kuwabara took the lead as the rest stood up and followed his pace out of the tent. Yusuke raised a brow to the woman as he was last to walk outside.  
  
"There goes 20 bucks down the drain!" Kuwabara stormed off, mumbling curses as he wandered farther across the fields of the arena.  
  
"Remind me again, why did I listen to him?" Hiei snorted, turning to Kurama.  
  
Kurama laughed, "You have to admit, it was quite entertaining."  
  
"No, I don't." Hiei retorted, rolling his eyes, "because it wasn't."  
  
Kurama shook his head, smiling as the two walked off toward the resting area. Yusuke was left standing alone in front of the so-called fortune teller's tent; it was as if she and the tent had just appeared out of thin air, because Yusuke and the others certainly would have noticed it if it had been there at the beginning of the tournament. And no one could recall seeing the tent being put up either.  
  
Yusuke just shrugged it off as he glanced around the battle area, then to the audience, as if he were looking for someone in particular. His search was paused however, when he noticed one of the opponents from another team staring straight at him from across the ring. From Yusuke's standpoint, this guy didn't look all that tough, about his height, dark brown hair, not what he'd call muscular but not scrawny either. He looked like an ordinary guy, not much older than Yusuke; but somehow his stare was intimating. It was something about his eyes that seemed to stand out; their lavender color almost sparkled.  
  
Breaking off their staring contest, Yusuke began moving toward their team's rest area hoping to find whoever he was searching for.  
  
"Hey Yusuke." Shizuru greeted as he approached her.  
  
"Hey," Yusuke said as he walked past her and over to Yukina, who was engrossed in a conversation with Kuwabara.  
  
"Yukina," Yusuke let himself in their discussion, "have you seen Keiko around?"  
  
"Urameshi!" Kuwabara bellowed, "We were engrossed in a conversation, do you mind?"  
  
Yusuke rolled his eyes as Yukina giggled, "Not lately, last I saw of her...she and Botan were placing more bets in the building."  
  
"How long ago was that?" Yusuke interrogated her.  
  
"Ummm, I'd say a good three hours ago." She answered, trying her best to be helpful.  
  
"Thanks," Yusuke smiled as he quickly strolled on to the main building.  
  
Kuwabara exhaled, "Now, where were we?"  
  
Yukina giggled at his cheesy grin as they both began walking down the hallways of the team's rest area.  
  
Hiei's eye twitched as his sister's familiar laughter echoed through the halls, "Must she laugh at every word that baka-ningen has to say?!" He spoke out loud, acting as if not to anyone in particular but Kurama knew he was expecting a response.  
  
"Maybe they enjoy each other's company." He suggested optimistically.  
  
"Maybe I should cut off his jaw," Hiei snarled, clenching his katana tightly, "that way there won't be much for her to laugh about." Kurama rolled his eyes to the remark, snatching the sword from Hiei's grasp.  
  
-  
  
Yusuke ran toward the betting polls near the entrance of the building, searching for Keiko in the small crowd of Demons. He quickly came to the conclusion that her and Botan had left because it would have been easy to pin point the two, considering they were the only female humans placing bets. Giving up, he made his way to retire in the hotel room he and Keiko were staying in; opening the room's door to reveal Keiko and Botan sitting on his bed. Yusuke cleared his throat, seeing that they hadn't noticed his presence in the room.  
  
"Oh, hello Yusuke, we were just talking about you." Botan greeted, turning her head to him.  
  
"I'll bet." Replied Yusuke, his tone sounded a bit obnoxious. –"Botan, could I speak to Keiko for a sec?"  
  
Botan smiled and nodded, making room for him on the bed.  
  
"Alone?" Yusuke extended his sentence.  
  
"Oh, okay." Botan agreed, hoping off the bed, "We can just.. finish this conversation later?"  
  
Keiko nodded, "Sure."  
  
Once Botan was out of the room, Yusuke closed and locked the door- then sat down beside Keiko.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" He was quick to begin their talk.  
  
Keiko bit her lip angrily, "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"I think you know damn well what I'm talking about." Yusuke persuaded, piercing her eyes with his strong gaze.  
  
"No," she fussed, inching away from him, "I don't."  
  
"Well then, maybe you can tell me what this past week has been about?" he coaxed her angrily. Keiko raised an eye-brow, remaining silent.  
  
"Like the other day in the rest halls, when I looked you straight in the face and started talking to you and you just...walked away?" Yusuke moved back closer on the bed to her, "Or Tuesday night when you never came back to this room, then you show up at 3:00 am and don't answer me when I ask you where you've been?"  
  
Yusuke laughed apathetically, "Fuck, this is like the first time you've said more than two words to me this week." Keiko remained silent, acting unaffected by his words, refusing to look him in the eyes.  
  
"Look, if you've got a problem or something to say to me or tell me about, then you need to come out and say it.." Yusuke attempted to sway her into talking, "Because I don't wanna play these games with you, this is not the fucking time or place!"  
  
"Good to see I finally got your attention." Keiko smiled half-heartedly.  
  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Yusuke snapped.  
  
Keiko rolled her eyes, "Nothing, Yusuke, it's not suppose to mean anything."  
  
"I think it is." Yusuke murmured crossly.  
  
"It means I don't wanna play these games either!" she shouted mockingly, "I don't want our relationship to be one big double-standard, that's not fair."  
  
"How is it a double-standard?!" Yusuke asked rowdily.  
  
"This week you feel like talking to me, this week you wanna come up to me an start a conversation, this week you care that I was out late." Keiko began shouting, "But how about last week or the week before that, when I went up to you and wanted to talk to you, but you were too busy thinking about your battle strategy.. Or when I told you I had something important to tell you and you just acted as if I wasn't even there, like whatever I had to say couldn't possibly be as important as watching Hiei's or Kurama's battle!"  
  
"Keiko, maybe you don't understand this...but this whole tournament, what the team and I are trying to do is important." Yusuke talked-down to Keiko, standing up from his place on the bed.  
  
"I know that!" she exclaimed in frustration.  
  
"No, obviously you don't, if you think I'm some kind of hypercritical ass- hole just because I don't come running every time you call- while I'm trying to make sure our world doesn't get destroyed so that we have somewhere to go home to at the end of this thing!" he yelled, waving his hands in the air.  
  
"I'm not calling you an ass-hole!" Keiko yelled back at him, "And don't talk to me like I'm stupid! I know why you're here- you don't have explain it to me like I'm a child!"  
  
"Well you're acting like one Keiko." Yusuke snorted.  
  
"How am I acting like a child? Just because I'm expressing how I feel to you?"  
  
"How do you feel?" Yusuke asked apathetically.  
  
"I don't feel like I'm your girlfriend! I'm just there to you." She replied.  
  
"That's bullshit!" He screamed, walking closer to her so that he was in her face.  
  
"You don't even tell me that you love me anymore Yusuke!" Keiko cried, "how am I suppose to feel?!"  
  
And for a moment, the room was silent.  
  
"Well, yah know Keiko, if I'm doing such a sucky job as your boyfriend, maybe you should just dump me and find another one," Yusuke's tone calmed down, "Maybe then you'll be happier."  
  
"Why do you always do this?" She asked resentfully, tears forming in her eyes, "Why do you always make it about you?"  
  
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" He began screaming again,- Keiko pushed him away from her. "Stop yelling at me!" She cried.  
  
"Don't push me!" Yusuke yelled, forcefully shoving her back. He quickly realized he had pushed her a lot harder than intended though, and stared at her apologetically.  
  
"Leave me alone!" Keiko let the tears run down the sides of her face.  
  
"Keiko, I'm sorry." Yusuke tried to act contrite.  
  
"Leave me alone Yusuke!" she cried out, covering her ears and shutting her eyes.  
  
"What do you want from me?!" he murmured, pulling his hair back with his fingers.  
  
"I want you to stop acting like such an ass-hole!" she sobbed, clenching her fists.  
  
"Oh, so I am an ass-hole? Nothing I do is right, is it?"  
  
"Maybe if you'd stop smacking me around like one of your opponents, I wouldn't think you were one!" She defended herself, wiping away her tears.  
  
"I'm not smacking you around!" he bellowed, "You pushed me so I pushed you!"  
  
"Fuck you Yusuke." she whimpered, more tears rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"God!" Yusuke screamed, storming out of the room, knocking down the hotel room's radio as he went. Leaving Keiko to cry by herself, she forced her face down on the bed and sobbed into a pillow. The farther Yusuke walked the less he could hear her cries of misery.  
  
-  
  
As the hours passed by, Yusuke didn't return to their room; Keiko stared at the clock- '1:00 am', it occurred to her that he wasn't coming back. But even if he had, what would she really have to say to him?  
  
Coming to realization with the fact, she pulled herself up from bed, wiping the dried mascara from the sides of her face. As she stood in front of the door, she cracked it open to see if anyone was out there, or if she could hear anyone awake. The halls of the so-called hotel were so quiet she could hear the crickets chirping from outside. She stepped outside the room, closed the door and walked down the dark stairway-  
  
She found herself standing outside near the battle ring, admiring the solitude- she began walking along the sides of ring, but no matter how hard she tried not to think of him- all her thoughts kept turning to Yusuke. As she circled the ring, she made her way closer to a presence that she was unaware of; until she noticed a pair of lavender eyes gleaming at her, they stood out like stars in the night's sky to Keiko. She moved toward the eyes, finding herself face to face with someone she felt she had met before, though his appearance wasn't familiar to her in the least. She studied him for a moment; he resembled Yusuke in some ways, his body type and skin tone.  
  
She didn't know who he was, but she felt safe standing there in front of him for some reason.  
  
"You all right?" He asked, she could sense concern in his tone. But why would he be concerned for her? He didn't even know who she was, much less anything about her.  
  
"I'm okay, thanks." Keiko replied softly.  
  
"If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears." He offered, touching her cheek as he wiped away some of the dried make-up Keiko had missed. Obviously he could tell something was troubling her.  
  
She knew she should have felt strange about her current situation, this total stranger had been showing her more compassion than her own boyfriend had. Yet something made her want to tell this guy everything, everything she was feeling.  
  
"Me and my boyfriend just got into this big fight and.." she paused to sniffle, "I don't know, I've never seen him act that way.. and he's never even came close to hitting me or hurting me."-  
  
"And tonight, he just.. pushed me away from him." Her voice grew weaker as she felt chills travel down her spine from the memory of how it felt to be rejected by Yusuke.  
  
As the stranger listened to everything she had to tell him, he brushed her hair back with his hand in an attempt to comfort her.  
  
Keiko sighed, "Like you really care about my problems though, you probably have things of your own to worry about, I'm sorry if I seem rude for just dumping this on you."  
  
She laughed, "I don't even know your name."  
  
He smiled gently, staring deeply into Keiko's eyes, he placed one hand on the side of her face and leaned in to kiss her petite lips. Keiko's eyes widened as she found herself surrendering to him, she allowed him to caress her lips with his, giving some back to him. Their passionate lip-lock broke off slowly, neither of them rejecting one another.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered, silently catching his breath, "You look so beautiful when you're sad, I couldn't help myself."  
  
Keiko couldn't find any words to say, she didn't feel offended or violated by him, she actually felt at peace when his lips touched hers. As if she had kissed him before, though she was certain she'd never seen him before in her life. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Kaemon." She whispered softly, stroking the back of his neck.  
  
But wait- 'How do I know your name?' she wondered to herself, 'What am I doing?'  
  
"Keiko," he smiled, embracing her body in their hug, "Come with me."  
  
"Where are we going?" She questioned in confusion, although she was mystified by what she was allowing to happen- she felt as though she wasn't in control of her own body, her longing for the console this stranger had to offer was too strong.  
  
Placing her hand in his, she followed him into one of the rest halls, as they walked down the hallway she swore she could feel herself floating off the ground.  
  
What's going on?  
  
Once they reached a door at the end of the hall he placed her hand on the knob of the door, "Open it." She opened it- revealing the most gorgeous garden of flowers and plants she had ever seen. But as her eyes studied the garden she realized that they were in another room, it was an indoor garden of sorts. With water- fountains, real grass and dirt on the ground, butterflies and fireflies fluttering around the room, it was like a dream.  
  
Hands still holding each other, she slowly pulled him inside the seemingly magical space with her.  
  
"Where are we?" She asked of him in amazement.  
  
But his own reply was the smile on his lips; they sat down on the soft, green grass- facing each other.  
  
"How do I know your name?" she raised an eye-brow of curiosity, "And how do you know mine?"  
  
But before either one of them had time to think or say another word, they were already laying on the ground, embracing each other, and removing pieces of clothing.  
  
The door to the synthetic garden closed seemingly by it's self, eliminating the chance of anyone accidentally seeing them. But their moans of pleasure could still be heard echoing through out the empty halls.  
  
-  
  
The next morning Keiko awoke in her hotel room bed, the sunlight shining in through the windows. She yawned as she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes the memories of what she and that stranger had done last night came flooding back to her.  
  
How did I end up here?  
  
Her eyes widened, thinking about what had taken place last night, she hoped that it had just been a dream; a breathtaking dream or a ghastly nightmare.  
  
She pulled herself from bed and walked into the bathroom, staring in the mirror, you could tell she hadn't gotten much sleep.  
  
"It was just a dream Keiko." She assured her reflection.  
  
She splashed some cold water on her face and finished her other morning bathroom rituals.  
  
Pulling on some jeans and a random shirt from her suitcase she proceeded to leave the room and head down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. Once she reached her destination though, she realized that she wasn't hungry at all; in fact the sight of food made her stomach turn.  
  
"Hey Keiko!" she heard a familiar voice call out to her from across the cafeteria. She made her way over to the table crowded by her friends and sat down, - "Hey guys."  
  
"How late were you out last night?" Shizuru laughed, handing her a piece of fruit.  
  
"Who says I was out late?" Keiko exclaimed in her defense.  
  
Shizuru raised an eye-brow, "I was asking you, I didn't mean to sound nosey or anything." She explained apologetically.  
  
"You usually don't sleep this late." Yukina smiled.  
  
"What time is it?" Keiko asked, unaware she had slept in; it felt early to her.  
  
"It's almost twelve o'clock." Informed Botan.  
  
Keiko's eye widened a bit as she turned her head to the clock on the wall, wondering whether or not she was out late last night.  
  
"No, it was a dream." She whispered to herself, staring down at the fruit she was clenching.  
  
"What was a dream?" Yukina asked curiously.  
  
"Nothing," Keiko sighed, quickly standing up from her seat.  
  
"Where're you going?" asked Shizuru.  
  
"I-I have to talk to Yusuke.." she explained and ran out of the cafeteria.  
  
-  
  
Out in the arena, a battle between two of the teams was taking place.  
  
"How much you wanna bet that big guy's gonna rip that little dude's head off?" Kuwabara snickered, turning his head to Kurama.  
  
But Kurama remained silent, as did Hiei who was sitting right beside him.  
  
"Hello?" Kuwabara waved his hand in front of Kurama's face.  
  
"No," Kurama stated firmly, "size isn't going to determine the victor Kuwabara."  
  
"Huh?" Kuwabara scratched the side of his face, "What'dya mean? That big guy's chasing him around the ring!"  
  
"Kurama means he believes the 'little dude' will win." Hiei snapped, trying to speak down to Kuwabara's level of comprehension.  
  
Kuwabara stared dumb-founded at the battle ring and then back to Kurama, "Uhhh.. you wanna bet money on that?" he laughed.  
  
"Watch," Kurama insisted.  
  
"Okay," Kuwabara shrugged, smiling idiotically.  
  
All three watched as the smaller opponent lashed out a forceful attack of spiritual energy, plummeting through the larger fighter's chest; declaring the smaller fighter the winner, as his opponent lay lifeless on the ground.  
  
Kurama grinned and turned to Kuwabara, "You can't always judge a book by its cover Kuwabara."  
  
"Save your phony metaphors for someone who cares." Kuwabara growled, stomping his feet as he stormed off.  
  
"Wow, a three syllable word, score one for the baka." Hiei snickered cleverly.  
  
Kurama smirked, "Yes, too bad that wasn't a metaphor though."  
  
As Kuwabara continued walking he came across Yusuke standing near one of the far ends of the stadium grounds.  
  
"Urameshi!" he called out, running over to him, "what are you lookin' at?"  
  
Yusuke didn't say anything at first, he just kept staring at the empty dirt corner.  
  
"It's gone." He finally spoke.  
  
"What's gone Urameshi?"  
  
"The tent," Yusuke pointed toward the corner, "it was right there yesterday.. and now it's gone."  
  
Kuwabara laughed, "Yeah, she's probably gone to rip more people off."  
  
"Strange," Yusuke murmured, flinching from a cold chill he felt traveling up his back.  
  
"You okay?" Kuwabara placed his hand on Yusuke's shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." He was quick to answer and began walking away. As he walked he noticed Keiko stepping out from the rest area, she glanced over to Yusuke as she stood still waiting for him to reach her. But instead, he turned around and walked back toward Kuwabara.  
  
"Come on Kuwabara." Yusuke told him, walking ahead of him.  
  
"Uhh, okay." He agreed and followed, glancing back at Keiko. Yusuke just didn't want to face Keiko, maybe it was because he was ashamed of his behavior. Maybe he was afraid of what she might think of him now, and that look she would have in her eyes.  
  
He couldn't deal with that look right now.  
  
-  
  
Weeks passed by and the Dark Tournament came to end, Yusuke and Keiko hadn't spoken more than two words to each other throughout the remainder of it.  
  
After all their long battles and sacrifices, finally it was time for them to return home. Thanks to Koenma's persuading abilities, upon returning to the Ningenkai the team decided to spend the night at Kuwabara and Shizuru's house for a sort of victory party.  
  
"Whoooo! Turn that music up!" Kuwabara shouted, slurring his words as he danced around the room.  
  
Yusuke and Botan grinned as they watched the intoxicated Kuwabara, "So much for drinking responsibly." Yusuke laughed.  
  
"I know, right?" Botan agreed, giggling, "All I saw him drink was punch though."  
  
Koenma could be spotted in the far corner of the room, spiking the punch and taking a shot straight from his bottle of whiskey.  
  
"So Yukina, I was thinking," Kuwabara slurred, placing an arm around her shoulder, "how about you and me ditch these losers and go up to my room for a while."  
  
"Kurama," Hiei growled.  
  
"Just let them be Hiei, your sister is smarter than to go upstairs with him." Kurama assured him.  
  
Hiei and Kurama watched as Kuwabara began leading Yukina up the stair case, "Kazuma!" she giggled.  
  
"Or perhaps not." Kurama corrected himself.  
  
Hiei grinded his teeth, he looked as if he was ready to attack Kuwabara. Kurama placed his hand on Hiei's shoulder, "I'll handle it, just.. stay calm." Kurama laughed half-heartedly. Hiei growled in response.  
  
Kurama approached the stair case, "Yukina, why don't you stay down here?"  
  
"Umm, okay, but why?" Yukina inquired innocently.  
  
Kurama smirked, "Oh, well, Hiei.." he began, "wants to show you something." Kurama encouraged.  
  
"Alright then." She smiled, stepping past the-about-to-pass-out Kuwabara.  
  
Kurama leaded Yukina to her elder brother, "What do I want to show her?" Hiei whispered to Kurama irritably.  
  
"You're welcome." Kurama smiled and walked away.  
  
-  
  
Keiko had immediately locked herself in the bathroom as soon as the group reached Shizuru's house, she had yet to come out.  
  
"Oh God," she panted as she leaned over the toilet she had been vomiting and coughing into.  
  
Moving away from the toilet, she backed herself into a corner, resting her head against the wall, breathing heavily. Holding her stomach, she began wondering what could have made her feel so sick, maybe it was something she ate that just didn't sit well. But she'd been feeling ill for days now; she'd been late for almost two months, maybe it was finally that time of the month for her – but she never got sick around then, not even a stomach cramp.  
  
It could be the stomach flu, but nothing was going around and no one else was showing signs of feeling sick. And whenever she felt sick or nauseas she wouldn't want to eat anything for days at a time, oddly though- she found her appetite increasing.  
  
Suddenly an unusual thought came to mind, could she be pregnant?  
  
During the Dark Tournament, before their dispute- Yusuke and Keiko had become closer and had on more than one occasion been intimate. But even if she were, it had been at least three months since anything of the sort between the two of them, and she wasn't showing in the least.  
  
And then an alarming thought struck her, her mind flooded back to memories of the night her and Yusuke had gotten into their big argument.  
  
That dream.  
  
What if it wasn't really a dream?  
  
All these questions running through her head, it was making her feel even more nauseas; she had to find out.  
  
She had to know.  
  
She slowly opened the door and quietly walked out of the bedroom. Speeding past everyone partying and enjoying themselves, she ran out the door- making her way to the local drug store; she felt a raindrop touch the top of her head.  
  
Before she had time to think, it was pouring rain and she began running as fast as she could in her current condition. Once there, she ran inside and picked out numerous pregnancy tests. No sooner had she paid for them, then no sooner was she out the door running back to the house.  
  
She let herself back inside and hurried to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.  
  
Hastily ripping open the boxes, she began following the directions to each test.  
  
In the end, they all gave her the same result...  
  
She was pregnant.  
  
-  
  
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	2. II Deceitful Assumptions

Fear Of Uncertainty ::Chapter II:: Deceitful Assumptions - - To Keiko...  
  
...time had stopped, the entire world has frozen, and she was all alone with no other human soul to turn to.  
  
She let her head drop between her knees as she sat with her legs spread. Her eyes glazed as all hope she had ever had for a future with Yusuke was slowly fading away.  
  
She was pregnant with another man's child.  
  
But that's not the thought that sickened her...it was that the child growing inside of her...wasn't Yusuke's.  
  
It was a fact that couldn't be accepted, her worst fear at that moment was for that dream to have been real. She felt so dirty and guilty, dirty like she had been raped and guilty of allowing it to happen. She has betrayed Yusuke's trust. What would he think of her?  
  
It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about it. She crawled over to the toilet, pulled her hair back and vomited out whatever she had left in her system.  
  
How would he look at her? She didn't even want to look at herself; she was too ashamed to face her own reflection.  
  
What would she say to him? He had to be told, she couldn't keep it from him for long. She wouldn't be able to keep it from anyone for long, eventually they would all find out.  
  
Backing away from the toilet- she crawled over to lie down on the bathroom's downy rug. Curling up in a ball she hugged her knees, all she could hear aside from her train of thought were sounds of the water flushing down the pipes. She wished she could have just died there and waited for someone to come find her body. That way she would never have to let Yusuke know that she had been disloyal.  
  
That way she would never have to see that look in his eyes, the look she knew that if she had to face would kill her. Maybe not physically, but her spirit would die.  
  
Her eye twitched when she heard someone knocking on the door, "Hey Keiko, you are alright in there?" She recognized Shizuru's voice shouting.  
  
"No," Keiko mumbled softly as she rolled onto her other side.  
  
"Keiko?" She hollered, knocking a few more times.  
  
"I'm fine!" She raised her voice loud enough for Shizuru to hear.  
  
"You've been in there an awful long time," Shizuru continued, "Are you sick or something?"  
  
"I'm fine!" Keiko repeated herself, a bit louder than before.  
  
"Okay, if you need anything we're all in the next room."  
  
Keiko shut her eyes tight as her hands covered her ears, silently making humming noises to block out anyone else who might check on her.  
  
Scarcely rocking her body and forth as she lay on the bathroom's ground, resulting in her unintentionally falling asleep.  
  
- -  
  
Kuwabara couldn't sleep.  
  
He'd been struggling with it all night, tossing and turning in his hotel room bed; he tried counting sheep among several other theoretical sleep techniques. None proved affective. He sat up and reached over for his watch, '1 AM...'  
  
"God damn." Kuwabara mumbled irritably. He looked over to Koenma's bed which was being occupied by Yusuke- due to Koenma's lack of being in it.  
  
Kuwabara got up off the bed and moved toward the door as quietly as he could, he didn't want to wake Yusuke. – Yusuke had told him about the fight he and Keiko had had, so he figured his pal could use some rest.  
  
Avoiding the floor's squeaky boards as best he could, Kuwabara exited the room and made his way down the dark stairway.  
  
Figuring a little food in his system would help him get to sleep; he reached his midnight snack destination down in the lobby of the hotel.  
  
"Vending machines, gotta love'em!" Kuwabara whispered giddily to himself.  
  
Upon putting his money in the slot and deciding on a particular snack, Kuwabara realized that he had failed to notice a piece of paper taped on the side of the device that read: 'Out of Order!'  
  
"Mother fucker!" Kuwabara cursed softly as he began shaking the machine, and in one punch of frustration he forced all the candy bars on the bottom rack to come pouring out.  
  
"That's what I thought!" He snickered silently as he collected the sweets off the lobby floor.  
  
"Kazuma Kuwabara always has the last lau—" His sentence of self- congratulation was cut short when he noticed two figures out the window, exchanging words across the battle arena.  
  
As he stepped closer to the window he could make out one of the figures to be female. But wait, short hair that uniform... But who the fuck was this other guy?  
  
Something told him that he had to find out, and if his gut feeling proved right- he could go back to the room, wake up Yusuke and inform him that his girlfriend was out late with other men. He watched them from the lobby until they began walking into one of the rest halls, which is when he decided to get closer, running to the other side of the ring as fast as he could. By the time he had made it to the rest hall, neither Keiko nor the other man could be seen anywhere.  
  
"Uhh, well that's weird." Kuwabara whispered, scratching the side of his face.  
  
As he made his way further down the hallway he continued to hear noises, he couldn't make out what they were or where they were coming from exactly. But something told him to keep walking; so he did.  
  
Approaching the end of the hallway, he was left with two choices; two doors to choose between.  
  
Swearing he could hear the noises becoming clearer the closer he got to the door that read 'Storage Room', - he placed an ear to the door and made out the noises to be moans. Sounds like someone's havin' fun... It then occurred to Kuwabara that it more than likely was Keiko in there, and more than likely she was the one having fun.  
  
Curiosity got the better of Kuwabara as he slowly cracked open the door, peeking inside to reveal Keiko and this strange man making love. Kuwabara's eyes widened and he quickly shut the door.  
  
"That wasn't Urameshi..." Kuwabara acknowledged to himself. Part of Kuwabara wanted to barge in on them and break up the whole thing, but then something else told him to just stay out of it. She was Yusuke's girl, it was Yusuke's problem.  
  
- -  
  
"Keiko, wake up." A soft voice spoke.  
  
Keiko was barely awake when her eyes fluttered open, "Mmm..." She moaned, letting know whoever was disturbing her that she was up.  
  
"Keiko dear, are you alright?" The voice spoke again.  
  
Her vision blurred as she got a glimpse of the bathroom's lights shining brightly, she was about to try and sit up but felt dizzy so decided just to lie there. As her sight returned she was able to make out who the voice belonged to, "Kurama?" Keiko sighed weakly.  
  
Immediately sitting up from her place on the rug after realizing she had fallen asleep and left the used pregnancy tests lying everywhere, at first she couldn't even remember where she was.- How long had she been sleeping?  
  
"What time is it?" She questioned worriedly, she felt as if she'd been sleeping for days.  
  
"It's only twelve, midnight." Kurama relieved her of her worry, kneeling down to speak face-to-face.  
  
Keiko could hear the music blasting from the next room; she turned her attention to the open door. "Close the door." She requested weakly. Kurama stood to shut the door and kneeled down to face Keiko once more, picking up a towel off the counter and offering it to her. Taking the towel from him she began wiping some of the sweat off her body, "Everyone is still here?"  
  
"Plus four..." Kurama nodded.  
  
"Four?" Keiko questioned in confusion.  
  
"Yes, it seems Yusuke invited a few of our defeated opponents to our get- together."  
  
"How long have they been here?"  
  
"They arrived shortly after you returned from your run." Kurama joked.  
  
"How long have I been in here?" Keiko whimpered.  
  
"All together, a little bit over six hours," Kurama informed her, beginning to tidy up the bathroom by picking up the numerous wrappers and boxes of the particular feminine product.  
  
The two remained silent as he proceeded to throw the litter in the trashcan, then he prepared a damp cloth for Keiko's face and forehead.  
  
"Does Yusuke know?" He asked solemnly, leaning down and handing her the cloth.  
  
Keiko's eyes glazed as she shook her head in dismay, and without warning let herself fall onto Kurama's shoulder as she began to cry uncontrollably.  
  
Kurama, though he didn't expect such a reaction, allowed it and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down.  
  
"No," she answered sobbing, "he has no idea."  
  
"Well, you're going to have to tell him." Kurama stated as gently as he could.  
  
"I know," she sniffled, wrapping her arms around Kurama's waist, "but you don't understand..."  
  
"I understand Keiko, I know this is hard for you." He tried to speak words of comfort, hugging her as well.  
  
"No," she pulled herself away from him, "You don't understand."  
  
Kurama raised an eye-brow as Keiko continued speaking, "I'm pregnant.." she paused.  
  
"Yes, we've established that." Kurama, struggling to not sound sarcastic, smiled reluctantly.  
  
"It's not Yusuke's," she admitted out loud for the first time; it frightened her. This was real, she couldn't just pretend this was all a dream; this was her life and she was going to have to live with it.  
  
An unfamiliar awkwardness floated in the air, Kurama couldn't find any words to describe how bewildered he felt at that moment. Though he didn't let it show, he found himself frozen, sitting there as he stared straight into her tan-brown eyes. He wasn't shaming her or looking down on her through his stare; thoughts of sympathy and confusion were the only things running through Kurama's mind. Though part of him was terribly curious how or when this happened, he knew better than to ask her.  
  
"I see," Kurama broke the silence, "When do you plan on telling him?"  
  
"I don't know." Keiko confessed honestly, letting her state of mind fall right back to imagining how Yusuke would take it.  
  
Again she though, how would she explain herself?  
  
What would she say?  
  
"Do you plan on telling him Keiko?" Kurama rephrased his question.  
  
"I don't want to tell him...if that's what you're asking." Keiko frowned, staring down at the floor; she appeared to be deep in thought.  
  
"But I know I have to," she whispered, "Eventually."  
  
"I think it would benefit the both of you the sooner he's made aware."  
  
"Are you trying to give me advice? What Kurama? You want me to go out there right now and tell him?!" She sobbed bitterly, the revulsion she was bottling up against her own actions – she was taking out on Kurama.  
  
"I want what's best for you Keiko, I'm not trying to force anything." He calmly pleaded.  
  
"Why do you care?" She asked grimly.  
  
Kurama shook his head, "Because I care about you, I've always been fond of you...since the day we met." He confessed truthfully, placing his hands on her shoulders.  
  
Keiko bit her lip, feeling her body shiver as his cold hands touched her arms. Managing to crack a smile, "Will you help me break it to him?" She requested timidly, anyone could notice the fear in her eyes.  
  
"You need to tell him Keiko," pausing his sentence, "I don't think Yusuke would approve of my finding out before him."  
  
"Yeah, that's true." She agreed softly; Yusuke was sensitive about the oddest things, she knew somehow that would hurt his pride, and that was the last thing she wanted. He would already be upset as it was.  
  
Kurama helped her off the ground as they both checked around the small room to make sure that they weren't leaving any evidence. No one else needed to find out for now.  
  
I guess I have to tell him now.. right now? Oh God.. what if he hates me?  
  
"What if he hates me?" She cried softly, looking up to meet Kurama's wise gaze.  
  
Kurama wiped away her tears, "He could never hate you." He smiled, "If only you could hear the way he talks about you sometimes, he cares for you much more than you seem to realize."  
  
Keiko hugged Kurama, clinging to him tightly to show her gratitude.  
  
"Thank you Kurama." She whimpered.  
  
Still not entirely used to being hugged by her, Kurama was unsure how to react- though he knew she the best of intentions by the embrace.  
  
"Keiko, you don't plan on telling him right now...do you?" He questioned her behavior.  
  
"The sooner he knows the better, right?" She quoted his words so to speak, faking a smile. Without another word or looking back, Keiko opened the door and walked out into the living room where all the party-going was in progress.  
  
"Aye! Look who it is!" Chuu shouted, turning his and Touya's attention to Keiko.  
  
Keiko smiled at the two of them, passing by and trying the best she could to ignore everyone until she found Yusuke.  
  
"In'a bit of'a hurry, where's the fire lass?" Chuu laughed, grabbing Keiko's arm and pulling her back to converse with him.  
  
She struggled to break loose from his grip as he just continued to laugh.  
  
"Aww, what's ah'matter? Don't tell me you're shy!" Keiko cringed as the aroma of booze floated around their conversation; she could tell these guys were drunk.  
  
"Please...I need to find Yusuke." She insisted that he let go of her and hastily walked away from them.  
  
"Looks like she's not too fond of you," Touya smirked, patting Chuu on the shoulder and taking another swig of his beer. "Maybe it's the booze breath?"  
  
Chuu frowned looking a tad disgusted, "Ahh, maybe it was your face!" He began laughing hysterically at his own joke.  
  
Kurama stepped in front of the drunken pair, "Leave her alone." He advised coldly then walked away.  
  
"Whooaa!" The two hollered, laughing and raising their hands in the air as if they were under arrest.  
  
Keiko found Yusuke talking to Jin, the two were enjoying each other's company as usual. Making one another laugh and telling stories of old remembrance. She reluctantly began tapping him on the shoulder but he didn't respond.  
  
"Yusuke?" She decided to speak up.  
  
Still no response. Keiko had found new meaning to the term cold shoulder.  
  
He obviously was ignoring her, she saw him turn his head when she first walked in the room. As his and Jin's conversation progressed she felt like she was a little girl in pigtails trying to get Yusuke and Jin to let her in their tree house. Her eyes filled with tears, she didn't deserve to be treated like this. Not yet at least.  
  
It wasn't until Jin told Yusuke to turn around after noticing the poor girl crying silently as she stood right behind him, that Yusuke turned around to face her. Gently grabbing her hand and tugging her over near Jin and him, "Keiko?" he cooed sympathetically, "What's wrong?"  
  
"I-I..." She struggled to speak clearly, choking on her tears.  
  
"Hey, come'on now." Yusuke attempted to calm her down, rubbing her back and holding her close to him. "What is it?" He asked sympathetically, guilt in his tone.  
  
"Just take a nice deep breath! You'll feel better!" Jin suggested cheerfully, placing a hand on her shoulder.  
  
Taking a deep breath of frustration with herself, she managed to pop out the words: "I need t-to talk to you."  
  
"Okay." Yusuke more than willingly agreed.  
  
"Alone?" She requested apprehensively, drying her tears.  
  
"Sure," Placing an arm around her shoulder, he winked at Jin and began leading her into Kuwabara's room. Jin nodded in response and headed over to Chuu and Touya.  
  
"You might wanna close the door." Keiko advised nervously. Yusuke did as he was told and walked back to Keiko, rubbing the sides of her arms.  
  
"-And you might want to sit down." She added with a sniffle. He sat down, holding tight to her hand and remaining silent; her behavior made him anxious to hear what she had to say. She sat down as well, taking another deep breath.  
  
"Yusuke," she whispered lovingly, "What I have to tell you isn't easy for me to say." She squeezed his hand tighter.  
  
"Umm, okay...where do I start?" She mumbled nervously.  
  
"Yusuke do you remember that night we got into that big argument..." she stopped herself, "Of course you remember."  
  
"Umm, well that night...after you left..." Stopping herself again, realizing what she was about to confess- she searched for another way to put it.  
  
"Okay," she panted hastily, studying the passionate look Yusuke had in his eyes, he had an amazing passion for the life he was living now, and an even stronger one for those he called his friends. She was hoping to forever capture how looking into his eyes made her feel; the eyes of a boy who didn't have the burden of an unborn baby. She hated herself knowing she was about to forever steal that feeling from him.  
  
Just say it Keiko.  
  
"Yusuke, I'm pregnant." Somehow the second time hearing herself admit it felt worse than the first. She quickly turned her head away from him, trying her best to hide her shameful tears.  
  
Yusuke's unseen reaction was letting his jaw drop and forgetting to blink as the words Keiko had just spoken repeated themselves like a never ending echo. Yusuke's state of shock felt like a dream; he felt numb to his current emotion. That was defiantly one of the last things he was expecting to hear her say.  
  
He wanted to ask how, when, why...he wanted to shake his head in disbelief...he wanted to wake up in his bedroom and laugh at the dream he was currently in.  
  
He didn't do any of those things, he couldn't. Instead, to Keiko's surprise, he gently pulled her closer to him and rapt her in his strong arms.  
  
"Yusuke," she mumbled, realizing she had left out one important detail. Now she had to break to him that the child wasn't his. Obviously he thought it was, other wise why in the world would he be hugging her? But it wasn't as if she was expecting him to jump to the conclusion that it might not be. That was probably the farthest thing from Yusuke's mind right now.  
  
You'd better say something.  
  
The seconds passed as if they were minutes to Yusuke, but as he questioned his own doubt and regret he began realizing a familiar emotion. He didn't feel scared or worried; he wasn't angry or unhappy... In fact the more he thought about it, an unexplained feeling of happiness came over him.  
  
"Listen, there's more to it..." Keiko muttered softly, breaking away from their hug.  
  
Yusuke, though remaining silent and looking directly at her, seemed like he was hardly paying attention to whatever else came out of her mouth. He was still rapt up in his train of thought.  
  
She noticed his eyes suddenly widen as if a bolt of lightening had just shocked his body.  
  
"We have to tell everyone!" He exclaimed abruptly, sounding overly excited. Practically jumping off the bed- he pulled Keiko to her feet and dragged her out into the hallway; his destination: the living room.  
  
"What? Yusuke! No!" She shouted crossly, "Yusuke, wait!"  
  
But Keiko's spoken attempts to dig herself out of the hole she was creating proved futile as she found herself falling in deeper than before. Yusuke tugged her over to where he had spotted Jin, grinning ear-to-ear. "Jin!"  
  
"Urameshi!" Jin greeted, "Get everything sorted out? I'm sure yah'did!" he winked, nudging Yusuke playfully in the chest.  
  
Yusuke snickered, "Jin buddy, listen.." Yusuke requested with a smirk.  
  
"Yusuke!" Keiko tugged at Yusuke's arm.  
  
"Aye?" Jin nodded, "You sure must'a got things worked out seein' the way the lass is clingin' to yah! That or she's gone loopy an' is tryin' to do away with yah!"  
  
"There wasn't much to work out," Yusuke grinned.  
  
"Oh?" Jin's eyes got a sly, yet curious look in them, "Do fill me in then."  
  
Keiko felt powerless; once again she was ignored for Jin. Once again she felt small and immobilized.  
  
Upon noticing Yusuke and Keiko's re-entry, Kurama raised a brow to the blissful look on Yusuke's face. He glanced over at Keiko; she seemed frozen as she stood watching him and Jin converse.  
  
"Oh no," Kurama whispered fretfully.  
  
"She's pregnant." Yusuke whispered, seeming to beam with excite.  
  
Jin's ears pointed up, almost jumping off the ground as reaction to the news.  
  
"Who's pregnant?" Chuu shouted out as he stared looking puzzled over near Yusuke.  
  
Suddenly everyone's attention was fixated on Chuu, and Chuu's attention was given to Yusuke.  
  
"Keiko is!" Jin hollered back half way across the room, smirking like the idiot he was at times.  
  
The room was filled with a timid silence as everyone's eyeballs looked as if they were about to fall out of their sockets. Botan hurried over to Keiko's side, "Keiko! When did this happen?" She exclaimed softly.  
  
Keiko shifted her gaze around the room, watching as all her and Yusuke's friends gathered a crowd around them. Asking questions and giving their congratulations.  
  
What just happened?  
  
Keiko couldn't speak, she clenched her stomach and dropped to her knees; her vision began blurring.  
  
"Keiko?" Botan questioned her behavior, concern in her tone.  
  
Botan appeared the only one who noticed Keiko's unstable condition while everyone else grinned foolishly at Yusuke. Even Yusuke himself went without neither seeing nor caring of Keiko's feelings and otherwise wellbeing.  
  
"I-I can't breathe.." Keiko murmured wide-eyed, relying on Botan as a support for keeping her balance.  
  
"Keiko!" Botan shouted softly as Keiko lost consciousness. She lifted Keiko up and carried her as best she could to the bathroom.  
  
-  
  
-  
  
You guys don't seem to understand what 'feedback makes for faster updates' means. 


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